Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a surgical instrument, and more particularly, to a surgical instrument including an articulating section selectively articulatable in a direction of a movement of a handle assembly or a direction opposite of the movement of the handle assembly.
Background of Related Art
Various surgical procedures are performed in a minimally invasive manner. This includes forming a small opening through a body wall of a patient, e.g., in the abdomen, and inserting surgical instruments therethrough to perform surgical procedures. The surgical instruments may be inserted through naturally occurring orifices of the patient. Due to the relatively small interior dimensions of the access devices used in endoscopic procedures, only elongated, small-diametered instrumentation may be used to access the internal body cavities and organs. Typically, endoscopic surgery is conducted by inserting a number of ports through small incisions in the patient's skin or naturally occurring openings to access a surgical site. One of the ports receives an endoscope. The surgeon views the surgical site via the endoscope and performs the surgery by inserting various surgical devices into the patient through the ports. For example, the surgeon may insert a hand operated endoscopic grasper, a dissector, shears, scissors and the like. This technique does not require “opening up” the patient, resulting in less invasive surgery than conventional procedures.
However, it is often challenging to steer a surgical device through the human anatomy. In light of this difficulty, a need exists for surgical devices capable of multiple degrees of articulation.